It was Monday night, prior to Game 4 of the Nuggets’ Western Conference semifinal series against Dallas at the American Airlines Center. I bumped into the winningest coach in franchise history, Doug Moe, in a hall just outside the visitor’s locker room.

So naturally, I asked him if the team we are all witnessing in these playoffs is the best Nuggets team ever. Moe was the coach the last time Denver advanced to the Western Conference Finals, in 1985.

This is what he said: “That’s a good question. It certainly can be the best. If I had to say right now, I’d say it’s the best team. We had some pretty good teams, but this one is, I think, the best. Of course, we still have a ways to go to prove it. But I’d have to say I’d put this team as No. 1.”

The way I see it, this is a three-team list: The 1984-85 Nuggets; the 1977-78 Nuggets; and this year’s Nuggets. Playoff success separates these teams from the rest in franchise history.

1977-78 NUGGETS (48-34)

The 1977-78 Nuggets, coached by Larry Brown, were the first team in its NBA franchise history to get to the Western Conference finals. That only required winning one round to get there (they had a first-round bye), and David Thompson’s Nuggets did just that, outlasting Milwaukee 4-3, a team that featured Brian Winters, Marques Johnson, Quinn Buckner – and a young Alex English, in just his second season in the NBA. Two seasons later, English was traded by Indiana to the Nuggets where he became one of the NBA’s best scorers and an eventual hall of famer. But here he was just another player on the Nuggets’ run to the conference finals.

That team lost to Seattle 4-2 in the Western Conference finals. Thompson led the team in the 1978 playoffs with 25.2 points per game. Dan Issel was a double-double waiting to happen with averages of 20.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Swingman Anthony Roberts rounded out a lethal trio with averages of 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds. Bobby Jones was an effective starter as well. Defense was their shortcoming. They allowed 113.6 points and opponents shot 47.6 percent from the field. Both numbers eclipsed the Nuggets 110.6 points and 45.7 percent shooting.

1984-85 NUGGETS (52-30)

Coached by Moe, the 1984-85 Nuggets were a blur to every opponent who dared oppose them, leading the league in scoring at 120 points per game during the regular season. Their playoff road included series wins over San Antonio (3-2) and Utah (4-1), before losing to the L.A. Lakers (4-1) in the Western Conference Finals. There is a general belief among Nuggets fans who witnessed the WCF that the Nuggets may have been better than L.A., and in fact earned a split of the first two games on the road by beating the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-led Lakers 136-114 in Game 2.

But Alex English, who averaged 30.2 points per game in postseason, broke his right thumb in Game 3, and watched the rest of the series. A hobbled Calvin Natt gutted games out. Fat Lever, a triple-double threat who led the team in assists and steals during the regular season, didn’t even play in the series. He was injured during the conference semifinals against Utah and was out for the playoffs. Dan Issel’s final shot of the series and his career was a 3-point basket in Game 5, and Lakers fans gave him a standing ovation when he was removed from the game. He retired from the NBA soon thereafter.

2008-09 NUGGETS (54-28)

Coach George Karl’s Nuggets tied the franchise record for victories this season and have kept getting stronger in the playoffs. The Nuggets won both of their series 4-1 and won those eight games by an average of 20.5 points. All fueling Moe’s belief that this team is the franchise’s best ever.

“What’s happened is I think this team has really grown,” Moe said. “Getting Chauncey, giving us a true point guard; he’s made everyone else better. He’s made George’s job easier in coaching this team. It used to be we’d compete for a game and then take two or three or four or five off and then compete another game, and then hope to win on shooting good. But not competing to the degree that we’re competing now. Now, if things go bad, we’re still playing tough. The whole atmosphere, to me, this year, has changed. It’s been a gradual change, and just keeps getting better and better.

Asked if he was surprised at the overnight success nature of the Nuggets run, Moe said, “Yeah, I guess so. We’ve reached a level that I didn’t know we could reach, and probably that’s because I didn’t know if we could compete game in and game out. We hadn’t really done that in the past. We’ve got a really good team.”

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.